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''Hesher'' is a 2010 American
dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
co-written and directed by
Spencer Susser Spencer Susser (born 1977) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Susser is the only American member of the Australian filmmaking collective Blue-Tongue Films. His short film '' I Love Sarah Jane'', featuring Mia Wasikowska, ...
and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Rainn Wilson Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom '' The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive E ...
,
Natalie Portman Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...
(who also produced the film),
Piper Laurie Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs; January 22, 1932) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films '' The Hustler'' (1961), '' Carrie'' (1976), and '' Children of a Lesser God'' (1986), all of which brought her Academy Award n ...
, and Devin Brochu. It was written by Susser, David Michôd and Brian Charles Frank. Screened at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
January 22, 2010, the film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011. Most of the songs on the film's soundtrack are tracks from heavy metal bands
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instru ...
and
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a prec ...
.


Plot

Following the loss of his mother in a car crash, T.J. falls into a state of depression. He becomes obsessed with the car his mother died in and follows it when it is towed away. He and his passive, depressed and pill-taking father Paul live with T.J.'s grandmother Madeleine, where they are soon joined by a squatter, Hesher, a foul-mouthed, tattooed, heavy metal-loving lout. After school, Dustin, a bully from the towing service, finds his car vandalized and blames T.J., who is saved and taken home by Nicole, a grocery store clerk, who admitted to knowing of the attacks towards him but did nothing until now. Hesher witnesses Dustin attacking T.J., but does nothing. Later, Hesher sets Dustin's car on fire, leading to police questioning T.J., but lack of evidence forces them to let him go. T.J. proceeds to spy on Nicole at the grocery store when Hesher appears and follows her home with T.J. She causes a fender-bender and is verbally assaulted by the other driver, when Hesher comes to her rescue by threatening him. He then takes Nicole and T.J. to a random house that is for sale. There, Hesher trashes the swimming pool and lights the diving board on fire before he shocks Nicole and T.J. by leaving them there alone. When the pair get back to Nicole's broken down car, it has a ticket in the window, at which point Nicole breaks down and cries about how bad her life is. Later that night, T.J. and Paul get into an argument over dinner. Madeleine is saddened that there is 'nothing she can do', and goes to her room. Hesher says he'll walk with her in the morning, but the next morning, he finds her dead. T.J. steals his dad's credit card and takes money to buy the car back, but is told it's been removed. He decides to give the money to Nicole, but when he gets there she is having sex with Hesher, so he damages his van while telling both of them he doesn't want to see them again and leaves. He threatens Dustin at his house and finds out the car was taken to be crushed. Dustin begins attacking T.J. until Hesher, who has been following him, appears and drags Dustin off him. T.J. tells him he still doesn't want to see him again and then goes to the junkyard. He climbs in the wrecked car and sleeps, dreaming of his mother's death. He wakes up when the car is going to be crushed and falls out. He returns home after seeing it destroyed. While getting ready for his grandmother's funeral, Nicole comes and asks for forgiveness and leaves him. At the funeral, T.J. is asked to say words for her, but has nothing to say. Hesher walks in drunk, resisting efforts to throw him out and demands that the mourners listen to him. He tells a story about how when he was younger he blew up the gas tank of a car and shrapnel destroyed one of his testicles. He then explained that he got caught up in the loss of his testicle focusing on it so much that he forgot he had a right testicle and working penis. He then draws the parallel: you lost a wife, and you lost a mother; I lost a testicle. He then announces that he promised Grandma he’d go on a walk with her and proceeds to push the casket out of the room. T.J. and Paul stand agape and watch Hesher pushing the casket through the road. After a brief hesitation T.J. and Paul run to catch up and take a place on each side with their hands on the casket to help Hesher push and also to join the walk with Grandma. The next day, Paul shaves for the first time in weeks and tells T.J. that Hesher is gone. Then he shows T.J. the compacted remains of his mother's car, which sits in the driveway. The screen draws back and then we see on the roof Hesher has spray painted in huge white letters, "Hesher was here."


Cast


Reception

''Hesher'' received mixed reviews upon its release. Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
reports that 55% of 78 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10, and a consensus stating "It has a dark sense of humor and a refreshing lack of sentimentality, but like its title character, ''Hesher'' isn't really interested in going anywhere."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 45 based on 26 reviews.
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' praised the film and Gordon-Levitt's performance, stating "So what if ''Hesher'' flies off its wobbly handles — it keeps springing funny and touching surprises. The performances are aces. Wilson makes Dad's emergence a subtle marvel. And even when the script edges Gordon-Levitt into
Hallmark A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term '' hallmark'' can a ...
sentiment, you can't take your eyes off him." However, other critics, such as
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film more lukewarm reviews. Ebert said, "''Hesher'' assembles a group of characters who aren't sure why they're in the same movie together. One by one, they have an attraction, but brought together, they're all elbows and angles."


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hesher 2010 films 2010 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films produced by Natalie Portman Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Ontario American independent films 2010 independent films 2010 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films Films directed by Spencer Susser 2010s American films